RELG 330 - History of Christianity
Course Notes
Chapter 19
Pages 269-272 - Cluny - see also page 221. The monastery at Cluny (in France) was founded in AD 910 by William the Pious, Duke of Aquitaine. The members of this monastery took their spirituality very seriously. The monks used the Rule of St. Benedict and emphasized personal piety, manual labor, and common worship. The monastery at Cluny sent people out to found other monasteries, which were under the direction of Cluny, and whose abbots were appointed by the abbot of Cluny.
Page 272 - the Carthusian Order was founded in 1084 by Bruno of Cologne, in the Chartreuse mountains of France. It was organized on different lines to Benedictine monasticism - with much time in solitary contemplation, although they met together for the liturgy. The conditions were very severe, so the Order did not grow rapidly.
Page 275 - The Premonstratensians were founded by St. Norbert, at Prémontré in France, in 1120. Norbert had been
Page 275 - The Gilbertines were founded by Gilbert of Sempringham (ca.1083-1189). Gilbert was the parish priest for the village of Sempringham in Lincolnshire, and set up a house for seven women of his parish who wanted to live as a religious community. He journeyed to Citeaux to ask the Cistercians to accept the Sempringham nuns as Cistercians, but their leaders decided that they did not want the oversight of a community of women. So Gilbert went back to England and organized the community under an Augustinian rule. Within a short time groups of men wanted to form similar communities, and double monasteries were set up.
Page 275 - the Augustinian Rule originated in a set of guidelines for a community under the supervision of Augustine of Hippo. It mandated poverty, celibacy, and obedience for the members. Those who lived in such communities were known as Canons rather than monks or friars.
Page 276 - the Teutonic Knights' main sphere of activity was in the region of the Baltic (what is now northern Germany, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, and Russia).
They went to defend Western Christians from the pagan Tartars and the Eastern Orthodox Christians of Russia, and stayed to build their own castles and seize territory for themselves. Frederick II of Prussia made their Grand Master a Prince.
The Poles and Lithuanians rose in revolt (for once they managed to fight on the same side instead of against one another) and won the Battle of Tannenberg (1410) against the Teutonic Knights.
In 1525 the Grand Master became a secular Prince, renounced his orders, and became a Lutheran. The Order continued under other Grand Masters, but was more and more concerned with secular power. It was suppressed by Napoleon, but continued to exist in Austria, where its main work was organizing schools and military hospitals.
The Order was revived in 1945 and continues to function in Europe.
Copyright © 2005 Shirley J. Rollinson, all Rights Reserved
